EDWARDSVILLE - About two dozen community members attended a community forum Thursday evening in the EHS media center. The Edwardsville District 7 Board of Education scheduled the forum to provide community members with a way to offer input into the characteristics and skills needed for the next Edwardsville District 7 superintendent.

The Thursday evening meeting was one of two community meetings taking place to gather community thoughts and opinions.

The last meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Oct. 3 at Liberty Middle School.

All seven Edwardsville District 7 Board of Education members were present at the community forum as Board President Monica Laurent led it.

Laurent explained that the board had approved the hiring of Executive Search Services, an arm of the Illinois Association of School Boards, to guide the District 7 board with the superintendent search process.

“They will not be hiring the person. They are just helping to guide us. All seven of us (board members) will be involved in choosing the people we interview, to final candidates, survey – everything,” Laurent stressed.

Laurent posed four questions for the forum audience to consider.

• What is unique about this school district and what special features make it different from any other school district?

• What are the major strengths of District 7- what are you especially proud of?

• What are the challenges or areas of concern in the district?

• What strengths or basic qualities are you looking for in a new superintendent?

Participants defined unique characteristics of the district as being very large with a diverse population, with students living in both small rural farm communities as well as in the city.

Natalie Thiems, a parent, offered an interesting viewpoint on uniqueness. “We’re not always as unique as we like to think,” she noted. “We deal with the same problems and the same struggles that districts around us do. The money crunch did not just hit us. The staffing shortage did not just hit us. We are not the only district dealing with drugs and alcohol and its impact on our children.”

Strengths identified by the audience included a dedicated teaching staff, facilities, community stakeholders investing in the district, and the partnerships with Lewis and Clark Community College as well as SIUE.

When talking about the challenges the district faces, Nels Olstrum, a parent, stated that he felt funding would be the number one challenge going forward. “… with education comes opportunity. I believe very strongly that most of the kids graduating today are not going to make a living being a professional athlete. So education is the key,” Olstrum stressed. “With Prop E all the cuts were for education opportunities for a lot of these kids. There needs to be opportunities for advanced math, advanced science and advanced art classes. Whatever these kids want to specialize in. Tech classes….so all of those things cannot be cut for those kids. But that requires money and funding, and I think the reality is the state will pay less and less every single year.

“I think that it is vital that that person is an excellent public communicator to be able to provide that information to the community about how that money will be used and why we would have to raise money through whatever avenue it has to be raised,” Olstrum added. “But to me that’s the number one challenge that this next person will have to deal with.”

A common theme of the evening brought out by participants was the lack of hands-on and vocational classes offered.

“We have our AP courses but I feel like we are failing with the portion of our students not having the hands-on courses that we used to with the mechanics and woodworking,” Jennifer Sparks, a District 7 teacher and parent stressed. “I know there are a lot of students – they are strong students but they are not necessarily a four-year bound student, and I feel that’s where we’re really struggling – meeting the needs for those students.”

Jacob Gobbel, an electrician and parent from Prairietown, agreed with Sparks’ comments.

“If you’re going to a four-year university in Edwardsville, it’s a great district… but if you’re doing any kind of hands-on – we used to have a vocational training program very involved with the Collinsville area vocational… It’s sad that it’s gone. I took woodworking at Edwardsville… it’s a shame that those trades are all gone. I fight for my kids because they may not want to go to the university. They may want to work with their hands. I’m proud that it’s put food on my table for a long time.”

Other challenges brought up included dealing with mental health issues, broadening the scope of helping students understand diversity, inclusion, more partnerships with corporations, businesses and other school districts and building morale among teachers.

Regarding qualities, strengths and skills that the new superintendent should possess, those attending the forum identified several. They felt the next superintendent should be someone who has been a teacher, who fully understands the district’s financial background as well as the promises made during Prop E.

In addition, they felt this person should be able to “hit the ground running,” dedicated to the job for a minimum of five years but no longer than 10, be someone with a vision, and someone who is dedicated to the district and lives in the district.

One of the skills noted by almost every forum participant was excellent communication skills.

One of the questions brought up was how internal candidates would be handled.

Laurent noted that this question also came up in the Citizens Advisory Council meeting. “As a board we did make a decision that we would interview all internal candidates,” Laurent said.

Following the community input and discussion at the forum, the board discussed a survey that will be posted on the district’s website for any community members/stakeholders to provide additional input.

Laurent then encouraged those in attendance and any other community members to attend the final open forum at 7 p.m. on Oct. 3 at Liberty Middle School.